Authorities reallocate resources previously used at vaccine sites

A declining demand for COVID-19 vaccines in Barbados has forced authorities to scale down some vaccine sites and relieve almost all 140 volunteers of their administrative part of the process.

Joint Coordinator of the National Vaccination Programme Major David Clarke, who made the disclosure on Wednesday, said the uptake for the vaccine had been “very slow these days”.

“We are at the stage where we got all the people who really wanted to get vaccinated, and now there are the people who are not particularly worried, so they are slowly coming one at a time,” he told Barbados TODAY.

The turnout for one of the latest vaccination drives – at the  Garrison Savannah on Wednesday – was in keeping with the slump in vaccine interest, Major Clarke disclosed.

“This morning we did a popup at The Garrison for the jockeys and stewards. We probably got about 40 of them. Some were first doses, some second doses and some boosters. The pace is very slow,” he emphasised.

It is this series of events, Major Clarke said, that has forced authorities to reduce the locations where residents can get the jab.

“We have cut back the number of vaccine sites. We are averaging about 50 first-doses per day…. Really and truly, to have all these sites open is a bad use of manpower so we have cut back,” the joint coordinator of the National Vaccination Programme declared, adding that work at the sites where volunteers had been utilised is now being done by nurses at polyclinics.

“We have cut back the off-sites. The only ones we have operating are Building Number 2 [on Harbour Road on Sundays] and then on Fridays, Christ Church Church Hall, but the others we have cut back simply because the numbers aren’t justified for having a whole team off site.”

“People can go to the polyclinics, but they have particular hours. But in terms of the main off-site, Building Number 2 is the one that tends to work on Sundays as an off-site,” Major Clarke added.

He said the nurses who were working at the affected off-sites have also returned to the polyclinics.

“So, in terms of the volunteers…we were using 140 volunteers altogether and we have been slowly cutting back. We have about 30 active now,” Major Clarke told Barbados TODAY.

The other vaccination sites were Sandals Royal Conference Centre on Maxwell Coast Road, Christ Church; the Masonic Centre, Salters, St George; Alexandra School in Queen’s Street, St Peter; and the City of Bridgetown Credit Union in Six Roads, St Philip.

As of Tuesday, the total number of persons who got at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine stood at 159,920 (70 per cent of the eligible population which is persons 12 and up). The total number of fully vaccinated persons was 149,071 (55 per cent of the total population or 65.3 per cent of the eligible population).

While the demand for first and second doses of the COVID-19 vaccine is dropping, booster uptake is better overall.

“We are administering boosters every day. We have done close to 40,000 and that is good, because we had 160,000 people vaccinated with first doses and 150,000 with second doses. So, with 40,000 boosters we are slowly getting there,” Major Clarke stated.

He also addressed the vaccination rate among children, which he said was going slowly although 55 per cent of them have received the injection.

Major Clarke said he was not certain if the rate would pick up with the resumption of face-to-face classes from Monday.

Meanwhile, Director of the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) Dr Carissa Etienne on Wednesday warned that low vaccination coverage in many countries of the Caribbean must be urgently addressed to stop the spread of COVID-19 and protect the most vulnerable, with health care workers and the elderly remaining particularly at risk.

She told her weekly media briefing that out of the 13 countries and territories in the Americas that have not yet reached WHO’s 2021 goal of 40 per cent vaccination coverage, 10 are in the Caribbean.

She specifically urged Barbadian authorities to ensure the island’s elderly population is vaccinated.

“ In Barbados, which is known for having some of the highest percentage of centenarians in the world, it means protecting those on the cusp of turning 100 years, so they can continue to live healthy lives.”

The PAHO boss lamented that vaccine hesitancy, a lack of vaccination centres in remote areas, insufficient staff numbers, and limited cold-chain infrastructure remain huge barriers to vaccination in many islands,

However, she said, they had the tools “to turn the tide on vaccinations in the Caribbean”.
emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb